Deck the Halls [Manne Family and Guests]

[RC Manne]

RC was really no good at baking, and he didn’t like helping decorate the Christmas tree because he always dropped the ornaments, so he was usually relegated to hanging up the lights outside. When he came in to grab some hot chocolate and warm his hands by the fireplace, he was glad to see his family crowded in the kitchen.

The Manne family wasn’t exactly the most religious of families, but they were exceedingly fond of the holiday season. They always had an child in need to give to from an Angel tree, and they made sure that there was plenty of food and goodwill to go around. Mrs. Manne was busy at the stove with Velma, signing gossip back and forth with her daughter.

RC picked up the waiting mug of hot chocolate and moved to the family room, where he flopped onto the couch to wait for Reggie to arrive. She’d had some finals to finish up before she could make the short drive to visit and so couldn’t make the trip with RC, but he was excited all the same.

Well, at least nervous.

RC picked up his sitting sister from her place on the ground and hugged her tightly, blowing a raspberry on her belly. Elle giggled frantically and bopped him on the head a few times before settling contentedly in his lap.

Yeah, it was good to be home.

[Reggie Earle]

Quite frankly, Reggie was nervous. This was her first time meeting RC's parents. Or any of her partner's parents really. And she was getting very giggly. Carter had told her to be careful while driving and if he knew who she was going to meet, he would have probably said a lot more.

She was a little tired though and if given the chance, she would probably doze off the moment her head hit some pillows. But for now, driving was keeping her surprisingly awake.

The drive hadn't been too far, thankfully and with RC's helpful directions, she found herself staring up at a house quite similar to her own and she immediately felt at home.

A smile lit her face as she parked her car and grabbed the fruit basket she had bought prior to the visit. She contemplated on grabbing her overnight bag but she really didn't want to be too presumptuous. Worrying her lower lip nervously, Reggie decided not to bring it in and grabbed her purse, not forgetting to lock the car. She walked up to door and rang the doorbell, smoothing down her dress.

"Lady luck, keep me from making a fool out of myself." She prayed under her breath.

[Jean Manne]

Jean loved the holiday season. Everything smelled like cookies and tasty food and peppermint and his parents were slightly more willing to let him have sweets before bed. He also missed being home, if only so that he could fill his parents in on all the fun that had happened during the year that they didn’t already know. And they knew most of it, but that didn’t stop Jean from telling it to them again and again.

Right now, the news of the evening was that R.C. had a girlfriend. A girlfriend that was coming over to visit them.

The moment that Jean’s feet hit the inside of his house, he had proceeded to inform all of his family of his older brother’s latest triumph. Mostly because he simply couldn’t believe it himself. And he hadn’t even met her yet! An oversight on R.C.’s part that Jean simply couldn’t ignore.

So when the doorbell rang, Jean all but exploded.

“SHE’S HERE!” He shouted at the top of his lungs. He ran into the kitchen where Velma and his mother were working and signed frantically at Velma “ RC’s girlfriend is here!!!” His little hands signed as large as possible so Velma could understand exactly how excited he was, as if she couldn’t tell by his face. His oldest sister laughed and waved him away with the warning “Be nice to your brother. And his girlfriend.”

Jean waved her a half-hearted agreement before bounding over to open the door. Roger and Mark laughed both at R.C.’s misfortune and Jean’s energy. He flung the door opened and beamed widely.

“Hi! You must be R.C.’s girlfriend!” He looked at her analytically, “You’re really pretty.” How on earth did R.C. get a pretty girlfriend?

[Conrad Manne]

When the time had come to divide up the "work" with decorating, Conrad had volunteered to be in charge of the Christmas tree. Between him, Roger, and Mark, it didn't take long before the pine tree--real, of course. They had to have a real tree--was shimmering with a mixture of classic ornaments and the various hand-made ones the Manne kids had been making for years. At just over six feet, he was the tallest of the family, so he was perfect for putting the delicate glass ornaments up at the top. (And for a few of them, he picked up Elle so she could reach as well.)

When the doorbell rang, he checked his watch. It was still too early for Alex to arrive, so he figured it had to be RC's girlfriend instead. (That was only confirmed by Jean tearing through the house like that.) "C'mere Elle, let's let RC up so he can stop Jean from scaring Reggie away." He scooped up his little sister again, freeing RC to get up. From the living room, he could hear Jean's welcome, and had to roll his eyes. "Jean is way too silly, isn't he?" The researcher picked up another ornament and handed it to his sister, and she very carefully put it on the tree.

[RC Manne]

RC’s emotions ran an instant gambit from excited to mortified the second the door bell rang. He was excited to see Reggie for the holidays, and for her to meet his family, but Jean’s overreaction was nerve wracking enough. RC’s face contorted in anguish when his younger brother got to the door before he did.

“Oh geeze…” He grumbled, handing off his baby sister to Conrad with an apologetic smile. RC bounded quickly towards the door and, gave Reggie the largest, most apologetic puppy eyes he could imagine from over top of his brother’s head.

“Hey, Reg.” RC greeted, edging around his little brother to usher his girlfriend inside. “It’s good to see you—Jean, get out of the way.--- I missed you.” He managed quietly, smiling shyly at Reggie and closing the door behind her. He blinked when he saw what she had brought.

“W-wow! Reg, that’s really nice.” He murmured, examining the fruit basket with a tilted head. “You didn’t have to do that.”

[Reggie Earle]

Reggie could hear the fuss from inside the house and a little splutter of laughter emitted from her lips. When the door opened, revealing a tiny boy with a huge head of hair, Reggie had to suppress a squeal from coming out. The flurry of words coming from his mouth barely registered in her mind before she blurted out her own words. "Oh my gosh you're adorable. Love your 'fro! And...thanks!"

She resisted the urge to ruffle his curls and was saved by the torment when RC appeared. Her smile softened and instantly turned shy when RC pointed out her fruit basket. "Oh...this. It's the least I can do." She turned to Jean and smiled. "Do you mind helping me with this. My arms are really tired and you seem really strong." Reggie held the basket out to Jean, widening her eyes.

Turning back to RC, Reggie stepped further inside and clutched his arm before pressing her lips on his cheek. "I missed you too." She whispered before stepping away from him and looking around her. "It's so warm." She said softly, reminded immediately of home.

[Jean Manne]

Jean beamed at Reggie, deciding that he liked her very, very much. And yes, the quickest way to Jean’s heart was apparently to feed his vanity. It probably didn’t particularly surprise anyone. If Jean had thought about it, it probably wouldn’t even have surprised him. He couldn’t help having self-confidence!

“Thanks!” He exclaimed at the compliment, “I just—hey!” He pouted when RC edged Jean out of the way. He stood on his toes, obnoxiously trying to listen to their conversation. “Ewwww…!” He opined on the subject of feelings and darted away to plop himself on the floor next to Conrad and Elle.

“They’re being mushy,” Jean informed Conrad matter-of-factly, “When I get a girlfriend, there’s no way I’m going to be that gross.”

[Conrad Manne]

Conrad couldn't help it; he had to see the infamous girlfriend too. He hoisted Elle onto his hip and peered around the tree at his brothers and Reggie. Jean was right; she was pretty. But the researcher was not going to be as obnoxious as the little alchemist. "If you don't learn how to be mushy, kid, you'll never have a girlfriend."

He rolled his eyes at his little brother's antics, and nudged him with his foot. "Jean, you're supposed to help guests when the come in with their hands full. Right, Ellabella?" Conrad headed over to where RC and Reggie were, and took the fruit basket with his free hand. "Sorry about that; you can ignore him if you want. I'm Conrad, and this here is Elle. It's nice to finally meet you." Now that he was looking at her closer, she looked a little familiar. He was a few years older, so they hadn't had any classes together, but he figured it was because she was a meta too. They'd probably crossed paths at Hammel.

[RC Manne]

RC smiled lopsidedly as he watched Reggie interact with his little brother. She certainly knew what to say to him to feed his ego, which was of course the way to his heart. He ignored Jean’s simpering, whining, and accusing in favor of just looking Reggie over. It was always nice to see her.

He blushed a light red at her kiss and nodded shortly. “Yeah, Mom and Velma are in the kitchen baking, and the gang is all here. So lots of body heat.”

RC chuckled at Conrad’s retort to Jean, and made a note to remember what Jean said for when he did get a girlfriend. RC reached for the basket, but Conrad beat him to it, so he instead tweaked Elle’s nose playfully. “Elle is the prettiest in the family, right Sis?” he cooed lovingly as the girl giggled and his her face in Conrad’s neck.

“Conrad works at the school.” RC explained almost under his breath, ushering the group of them back through the short hall and into the kitchen area. He would have been content to linger out of the crowd of his family, but the opening of the door had flung cool air inside, and the chill raised the flesh on RC’s arms.

[Reggie Earle]

Reggie held back her giggle at Jean's comment and smiled affectionately when the little girl was brought in with Conrad. She immediately recognised him as her senior. They had never interacted though. Never had the opportunity to, Reggie supposed.

She waved a little at Elle with a smile. She really was beautiful, the little girl was, as she hid her face in Conrad's neck. When addressed, Reggie smiled wider at Conrad and nodded. "Pleasure is all mine. But really it's no trouble at all." she was relieved of the gift basket anyway and she moved in closer to RC as he walked in further into the house.

"Are you a trainer?" Reggie asked, turning to Conrad when RC told her where he worked.

[Jean Manne]

Jean made a face at his oldest brother, “I will so get a girlfriend.” He was hilariously confident in this fact. He didn’t see why he wouldn’t, after all! He was pretty awesome, and even college girls said he had cool hair. Done and done. He just didn’t want to be gross and mushy like his brother was.

And, okay, if he was going to be mushy, he was at least going to make sure that RC and Conrad never, ever, ever found out about it. Because they wouldn’t ever let him live it down.

“Oh yeah,” Jean said absently at Conrad’s reprimand, “I thought RC was gonna do it! He shooed me away and stuff.” Jean was certainly not above tossing his brother under the bus in the name of sibling revenge. He was going to offer to help Reggie with the basket, but Conrad had already done that. Eager to make amends, Jean tugged the basket out of his oldest brother’s hands. “I’ll go put it in the kitchen,” He offered before zipping away to go and put it on the counter.

[Conrad Manne]

"Thanks, Jean." Conrad let go of the basket and wrapped his arm around his little sister again. As annoying as Jean could be, he really was a good kid. He just needed some prompting to remember his manners.

"Ah, no. I'm a researcher. I work down in the labs." Most Hammel students and alums were aware of the labs in the basements under the school, and that they weren't like the ones in the terrible rumors that went around about what the government did to young metas. "I've been working on tracking the energy usage of metas in different stages of training." He'd been known to ramble on about his research, but he shut up there. This time.

[RC Manne]

“Conrad is the cool brother.” RC murmured affectionately to Reggie, leaning in close to her for a moment. But only a moment. His nervous excitement kept hold on him too hard for him to keep still for too long.

“Mom! Dad! Reggie here!” He called into the kitchen. RC never really shouted, and so his calm voice echoed down the short hall to the kitchen just as they arrived in front of his parents and his oldest sister.

RC signed and spoke at the same time. “Mom, Dad, Velma, this is Reggie.” He said, finger-spelling her name as he pointed to her, smiling sheepishly. “Reggie these are my parents, and my sister Velma.”

[Reggie Earle]

"Thank you Jean." Reggie smiled widely as the young boy dashed off. She leaned in just as RC did, smiling softly as she did so before paying attention to Conrad's explanation. "How interesting." She smiled widely at Conrad. "I'd love to hear more about it. If you're willing to explain of course."

Her attention was directed away from Conrad to the appearance of RC's parents and his sister. Her smile turned shy as she raised a hand to greet all three of them. She was reminded that Velma was deaf so Reggie started to sign: "It's a pleasure to meet you Velma." She sure hoped she hadn't mucked that up.

She stepped closer to their parents to shake their hands. "You've got a lovely home Mr. and Mrs. Manne." She gave them both a shaky but bright smile. She didn't realise meeting parents was this nerve-wracking. She was usually very confident and easily won adults over. She just hoped she was making a good impression.

[Alexander McKenzie]

He was running late. And he felt terrible about it.

It wasn’t entirely his fault. Alex had been finishing up some homework so that he wouldn’t have much left to do over the holidays. Unfortunately, he’d lost track of time, and had to scramble to get out of the apartment vaguely on time. He’d moved so fast, he’d nearly forgotten the boxes of chocolate that he’d planned to bring.

He was actually dressed relatively nicely, and the drive over was pretty pleasant. The roads weren’t bad, and he found the place easily enough. He couldn’t thank the Mannes enough for inviting him along the past few years. Being separated by a few states from his parents wasn’t easy, but the Mannes were like family now, and he certainly didn’t mind spending the holiday with them.

He knocked before pushing the door open a crack. “Merry Christmas!” He called out to the house before sliding the door closed and taking off his jacket and shoes. He was quickly accosted by Mrs Manne in a hug. Years ago, that would have freaked him out. Now, he just grinned and hugged back. “I brought chocolates – don’t let Jean get into it before dinner.” With that handed off, he headed into the living room, where everyone else seemed to be gathered. “Conrad! I made it!” He grinned and reached out to pat his shoulder, then turned to greet the others. “Hey, Merry Christmas everyone.”